Hello all. I am attempting my first sailing ship. Lindberg Jolly Roger. I want to weather the sails and have attempted it several times. I can’t seem to get the right look. Ive tried dry brush and wash. Any suggestions or techniques? Pictures would also be helpful. There aren’t many, that I’ve found, on the internet. Thanks in advance.
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Welcome aboard @Whuffman . I’m not a ship builder but there are plenty on here who are and should be chiming in at some point.
Glad you’re here bud.
Joe
Welcome Wuffman.
I have built this model and my preference is to make the sails so that they don’t distract, or stand out from the rest of the model, but have them sort of blend into the whole model. I have used silkspan, paper, and plastic sails. I start with spraying a base coat of flat white primer, then follow with a very light coat of off-white, then with a very soft, wide brush, blend with washes of the off-white mixed with a light brown. The goal is to get all the colors to blend and let lighting take care of shading. I prefer to stay with acrylics, water colors, and pastels vs paint that requires a thinner.
I lost my Jolly Roger years ago to a cat accident, but here is my only picture of it.
Revell America
I hope this helps and we look forward to hearing more from you.
Scott
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Depends 0n the fabric. My understanding is that cotton had to be imported from US, which made cotton sails more expensive than linen sails. So European sails were a bit more of a tan/grey appearance while some US ships used bleached cotton with a stark white appearance. In either case I just airbrush the whole sail, put threads in for furling ropes. While airbrushing I very the spray a bit to get slight variation.
That’s a “sort of.” The Spanish introduced cotton all along North Africa from the 1600s on. There was plenty of flax to be made into linen, and wool makes a sturdy (if water-retaining) sailcloth.
The people of SW Asia used reeds, specifically papyrus for sails. In east asia rice paper, rice fiber, and even silk were made into sails.
Now, the various navies had differing procedures for washing sails, which would change the appearance.
As above, washes are likely your firs, best, go to.
I’ve only used the vacuumed formed sails that come with the kit but I start by painting the sails with Buttercream acrylic craft paint. Tom me that color comes close to a canvas look. Then once their dried, I clear coat them and then either use an oil wash or pastels to weather them, depending on how “weathered” I want them to look.
They look great and very realistic. You also did a super job on that Lindberg kit. I’d like to see more pictures of it.
I will post more when i get it done. Thank you for the compliment.
That looks great! Nice amount of variation.
Whuffman,
I just received the same kit, having purchased it from Atlantis Models Archive Collection. What is fascinating to me is the history of the kit itself, which according to various sources started out as the La Flore by Lindberg, issued from new tooling in 1965. Later, in cooperation with Revell, it was issued as the Revell kit Flying Dutchman. It then returned to Lindberg and in its most recent iteration issued in 1990 as the Jolly Roger.
My interest in this model began when I found Revell’s Flying Dutchman in an old storge box of mine. Not that I am a maritime historian, but the model looked nothing like a late 17th century Danish ship, but rather a mid-18th century frigate. The call-out “La Flore” on the molded ratlines and a quick internet search of the name quickly identified the most likely candidate as the 1757 French Frigate Vestale. That ship had a fascinating operational history, eventually serving under the flags of three nations: France, Great Britian, and the United States. Late in her service life after she had been returned to French service, she was sold to private investors who sailed her as a privateer, so I suppose the Jolly Roger issue has some basis in historical fact, if not in name.
Model looks great. Would enjoy seeing additional photos.
Cheers,
Eddie